ECE News Story

Spirent Communications Partners with UMD’s Master’s in Telecommunications Program

Spirent Communications Partners with UMD’s Master’s in Telecommunications Program

This past fall, Spirent Communications, a multinational telecommunications testing company headquartered in San Jose, CA, partnered with The A. James Clark School of Engineering’s Master’s in Telecommunications Program (ENTS) to provide students with Spirent equipment and mentorship. This is the first year that Spirent has partnered with the ENTS program. Highlights of the partnership include the development of a new course that leverages tools, technical expertise, and support from Spirent, as well as the creation of the WIT-Wireless Innovation Team Club. In addition, Spirent held a Wireless Technology Seminar at the beginning of the fall semester with attendance exceeding capacity (70) of the venue.

The course, ENTS 699L Independent Studies: LTE Network Protocols Testing Equipment Lab, that was designed by Associate Directors of the ENTS program, Michael Dellomo and Alejandra Mercado, provides students with the opportunity to learn how to perform device-to-device mobile testing using the Spirent Wireless Test Station, WTS 122. Students also learned how to use Spirent’s Elevate Test Framework and the ProLab Testing Suite. The course will be offered again in the fall 2017 semester.

The WIT-Wireless Innovation Team Club consists of six students currently enrolled in the ENTS program. The team has been using Spirent provided tools and have grown their skills in Wireless Telecom through mentorship, support, and projects provided by Spirent.

Further collaboration between Spirent and the ENTS Program will include the supply of additional Spirent tools to complement those already provided in order to enhance the teaching and learning experience in the LTE Network Protocols Testing Equipment focused lab course. The tools will also be made available to the WIT Club. The next Spirent Wireless Technology seminar will be held towards the end of the spring 2017 semester, and the company will be recruiting new members to the WIT club to backfill those members that will be graduating this semester.

Of the partnership, Spirent’s Senior Director of Systems Engineering Charlie Mera says, “The program is off to a great start, realizing benefits to the students, the University and Spirent. Students gain practical experience in testing new and upcoming wireless services while also increasing their marketable skills. The University benefits from providing access to state of the art tools to help re-enforce the Telecom curriculum, and Spirent enjoys the opportunity to directly connect with our future Telecom professionals. We’re excited about expanding the collaboration and complementing UMD’s ENTS program.”

Spirent develops innovative solutions that allow IT and communications industries to evaluate the performance, agility, and security of the latest technologies, infrastructure and applications being deployed worldwide. Read more about Spirent’s solutions and services here.

UMD’s ENTS program combines rigorous technical education with invaluable business insight and entrepreneurial skills. The program is run jointly by the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.